The ministry also reported 445 COVID-related deaths, up from 352 the day before and the first toll above 400 since May 2.
A total of 40,192 people have now died because of COVID-19 in Italy, which becomes the sixth country in the world to report more than 40,000 deaths.
It has registered some 824,879 coronavirus infections since the start of its outbreak.
The northern region of Lombardy, centred on Italy’s financial capital Milan, remained the hardest hit area, reporting 8,822 new cases on Thursday against 7,758 on Wednesday.
The southern Campania region was the second-worst affected, chalking up 3,888 cases.